I have to concur that Lord of the rings, which has superb story-telling, is a excellent place to begin. After wards, read any Braden Sanderson works., for he is also very talented.
The bookstore I went to hardly had any of the suggestions! I was kinda disappointed but I did get a copy of The Hobbit
I buy a lot of books online. I especially love amazon.com because you can read reviews and see what people are saying about it. Plus there's usually used copies for a good price. Bookstores are limited by shelf space but the internet has no limits. Happy hunting.
What bookstore did you go to? That's surprising. But Inkdream is right, Amazon is especially great. Good prices, I buy books from there every month.
How about Garth Nix's Abhorsen Trilogy, or Tamora Pierce's "lioness" series. not the highest caliber stuff. but probably some of the most interesting books I've read.
I'd recommend you check out the library first. Too many times, I've come across novels with rave reviews, and, after reading them, I was very glad to have checked them out for free instead of dishing out the cash . . . Sometimes, you just can't predict if you'll like a book or not until you're about halfway through it.
Fantasy is probably my favorite genre, just ahead of sci-fi. Some fantasy books I've read and really enjoyed: Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman The Hobbit/The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkein Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer The Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini A lot of people rag on Paolini, but personally I like the series and look forward to the final book. I'm also really surprised no one mentioned Artemis Fowl. It is a great series.
Paolini is a thief. he took like half of his names from Beowulf, and robbed like six books to make his plot. I scribbled out the title on my copy of eragon, and wrote Beowulf 2 on it.
The Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny is a must-read. I'm serious, you must read at least the first one. Nine Princes of Amber was the first fantasy book I picked up that made me go: "This is fantasy? You can actually write a fantasy book like this? Why didn't anyone tell me that sooner!?" I also recommend the Cygnet duology by Patricia A McKillip, primarily because you will most likely never experiance anything else quite like them. Finally, take look at the Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathan Stroud. Oh, and literally anything/everything by Terry Pratchett.
The Sword of Truth series. Book I is Wizard's First Rule. Oh, and of course The Redemption of Althalus, as well as being possibly the longest single fantasy book ever written, is a good book.
I absolutely LOVE the Heir's Apperience. It's amazing and by far the best fantasy (hopefully I got the right genre) I've ever read! Yes, I probably spelled the name wrong, so PLEASE correct me!
Something easy to get into would probably be A. Lee Martinez's books. Gills All Fright Diner, The Nameless Witch, In the Company of Ogres (My favorite) the Automatic Detective, among others. Start with any, really, but Gills All Fright Diner is definitely a place that you cannot go wrong. The reason I suggest these is because they are basically light reading, and they are fantasy, but they are also comedies. (Of the absurd sort, and very clever) Great stuff.
That's what I think is the problem with fantasy. People expect it to be stale and cliche. I'd love to see more fantasy that has no swords, no crusader-type heroes, no dark evil overlord and above all, no dragons in it. They're probably out there, but it's discouraging to have to dig through so much crap based on dated romantic notions in order to find them. If you know what I'm talking about, throw me a few titles!
The book I'm reading right now is called 'Sandman Slim' by Richard Kadrey. It's placed in a modern setting. Wizard who was dragged to hell has escaped and is back with a vengeance type of story. There are equal parts guns and knives to magic and is a very different type of fantasy novel. However, there are still dark overlords and I find the writing itself could have been better (although I'm only about 1/3rd of the way through). A very different contemporary spin on a classic genre though.
Whoever recommended Neil Gaiman...Thank you. Fifteen pages in--still the introduction--and I'm hooked. Neil Gaiman - Smoke and Mirrors
I love threads like this as I am always looking for a new series to start, so thanks for asking about this DM! I see you've already gotten into reading something, but I figured I'd add my two cents worth since I didn't see Katherine Kurtz mentioned here yet. Her Deryni series was my own introduction into the realm of fantasy reading and I never looked back.
I am not too much of a fantasy fan. I grew up with space ships, not wizards. But I did enjoy the Spellsinger series by Alan Dean Foster. I thought it was witty and sharp.
All are great recommendations. You could add Christopher Stasheff- Her Majesty's Wizard to your list. And Melanie Rawn- Sunrunner's Fire. (P.S. Cannot remember if this is the first book in the series or not, please reference to make certain it is the first book before reading. ) BB Walter
The Coldfire Trilogy - C. S. Friedman I was pretty obsessed with Forgotten Realms when younger. But these titles were what stuck with me over the years. The Icewind Dale Trilogy - R. A. Salvatore Spellfire - Ed Greenwood (This is the book that got me to love fantasy) The Moonshae Trilogy - Douglas Niles
The Bartimaeus Trilogy is pretty unique i think. In the series it is the magicians who are evil and enslave the demons to do their will. The magicians/government are corrupt and self serving.
Can't beat Neil Gaiman I think. Agree with The Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathan Stroud, HDM by Phillip Pullman and the Abhorsen books by Garth Nix. Chronicles of Amber... I wanted to burn my own eyes out after reading that. I bought the massive all in one ten books volume on a recommendation and couldn't even finish the first book.
Fantasy Tips any tips is appreciated. I'm mainly looking for types of characters and plots I should avoid,how many main characters should there be. I'll take any advice. Thank you